Chapter 182: Professor of Ninjutsu

Chapter 182: Chapter 182: Professor of Ninjutsu

Gazing at the countless ice senbon filling the sky, the Third Hokage revealed a rare look of astonishment.

An Ice Style technique on such a massive scale—regardless of how powerful it actually was, its sheer, exaggerated range and quantity alone were enough to place this Ice Release ninjutsu firmly among the ranks of S-rank techniques.

At that moment, Hyuga Kagami calmly extended his right hand and gently clenched it.

In an instant, the countless ice senbon suspended in midair shot toward the Third Hokage on the ground from every direction like a hail of bullets.

The Third’s expression sank as he shouted, "Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Dome!"

Rumble—!

Amid a deafening rumble, earth and stone churned violently before quickly forming a hemispherical earthen dome, completely sheltering the Third within.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Almost at the exact moment the Earth Prison Dome finished forming, countless ice senbon struck its stone walls from every direction, accompanied by piercing whistles as they tore through the air.

Although the destructive power of the ice senbon wasn’t particularly great, their sheer number more than made up for it. Even if each individual senbon only chipped away a little dirt from the Earth Prison Dome, under the bombardment of tens of thousands of them, sheer accumulation alone was enough to smash the earthen dome apart.

Because of this, the Third, sheltered inside the Earth Prison Dome, kept both hands pressed against its walls, continuously supplying it with chakra and repairing the earthen shell as it was damaged.

At the outer perimeter.

Watching the battle from afar, the Konoha ANBU all wore grim expressions. Only now did they finally understand why the Third had refused to let them intervene in this battle.

Faced with the ice senbon filling the entire sky, it wasn’t as though they had absolutely no way to deal with them, but if they tried to withstand the barrage head-on, they would undoubtedly suffer considerable casualties.

The Kumo jōnin’s eyes flickered thoughtfully.

Just like the Konoha ANBU beside him, he had never expected a mere bounty ninja to possess such formidable strength—enough to contend with the Third Hokage himself.

"This bounty ninja is no ordinary shinobi. I have to report this to Lord Raikage!"

In the shinobi world, every powerful ninja was worthy of the attention of the major hidden villages, let alone someone capable of going toe-to-toe with the Third Hokage.

With that thought in mind, the Kumo jōnin began paying even closer attention to Hyuga Kagami’s every move on the battlefield.

At the opposite end of the encirclement, Guy crouched atop a large tree and stared toward the battlefield, murmuring, "I never would’ve thought... this guy was actually this strong!"

Beside him, Kakashi’s expression was equally grave. Even though he had already tried to estimate the enemy’s strength as highly as possible, the power his opponent was displaying now still exceeded his expectations.

However, with his exceptional combat instincts, Kakashi had also noticed that the enemy was able to unleash such a terrifying Ice Style technique by taking advantage of the weather conditions.

Thus, rather than being intimidated by the spectacle before him, he began thinking of ways to counter it.

......

Back in the village.

Before long, an Uchiha clansman found Shisui, who was still lingering near the Kumo delegation’s residence, and asked him for details about Gloya’s abduction.

Naturally, Shisui couldn’t reveal the truth, so he simply claimed that he "didn’t know" and brushed the man off with a few perfunctory words.

The Uchiha clansman didn’t suspect anything and casually said, "The Clan Head has already assembled the jōnin squad of the Police Force. They’re about to head out and pursue the bounty ninja who attacked the Kumo delegation."

"What!?"

Shisui was startled.

Given the current antagonistic relationship between the Uchiha and the village, unless the Hokage personally issued an order, the Uchiha should normally have turned a blind eye to this entire affair.

Steadying himself, Shisui asked, "Was this an order from Lord Hokage?"

The Uchiha clansman shook his head. "No. Lord Hokage left a while ago. He personally went after that bounty ninja."

Shisui froze for a moment. Then, without another word, his figure flickered away as he raced toward the outskirts of the village...

......

On the battlefield.

Hidden behind the ice wall, Hyuga Kagami watched as the Third used the Earth Prison Dome in reverse, turning an Earth Release barrier originally meant to imprison enemies into one that protected himself.

"As expected of the Professor of Ninjutsu!"

The Earth Prison Dome’s ability to continuously repair itself was indeed an excellent counter to Ice Time Rain—a technique with tremendous range and overwhelming numbers, but limited individual destructive power.

A short while later, every last ice senbon in the sky had finished its bombardment, yet the Earth Prison Dome appeared completely unscathed.

Suddenly, with his Byakugan active, Kagami noticed the Third forming hand seals from within the Earth Prison Dome.

"Huh? What technique is that?"

Kagami frowned. Although he had mastered quite a number of ninjutsu himself, compared to the Third, his repertoire wasn’t even worth mentioning.

The question had barely crossed his mind when his footing suddenly gave way, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.

Only then did he realize that the earth beneath his feet had transformed into a flowing swamp. In the span of just one or two breaths, more than half his body had already sunk into it.

"Not good!"

Cursing inwardly, Kagami allowed his body to continue sinking into the swamp while his hands rapidly formed seals.

"Ice Style: Ice Condensation!"

The instant he completed the hand seals, Hyuga Kagami unleashed his Ice Release ninjutsu.

In the blink of an eye, the churning swamp was frozen solid by Ice Condensation, transforming into a vast stretch of frozen earth and bringing the flowing mire to a complete standstill.

With half his body still trapped in the frozen ground, Kagami had only just breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that the Third had already burst out of the Earth Prison Dome and was charging straight toward him with the Adamantine Staff in hand!

With no time to spare, Kagami violently exerted his strength and tore himself free from the frozen earth.

By then, the Third had already circled around the enormous ice wall. He swung the staff straight at Kagami, who had only just broken free and hadn’t even fully regained his footing.

Left with no other choice, Kagami pulled a kunai from his waist and barely managed to raise it in defense.

Clang—!

The forged-steel kunai collided with the Adamantine Staff, producing a deafening metallic crash that made his eardrums ache!

Immediately afterward, Kagami felt an enormous force surge through the kunai in his hand, sending his entire body flying backward.

Boom—!

Only after being hurled a considerable distance did Kagami slam into a large tree and finally manage to stop himself.

"That much strength!?"

Feeling the sharp pain radiating through his wrist, Kagami was inwardly astonished.

The Third might have looked thin and frail, but his physical strength was anything but weak. Combined with the power of the Adamantine Staff transformed from Enma, Kagami’s Water Release clone had absolutely no chance against him in close-quarters combat.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Third suddenly hurled several shuriken toward Kagami.

Immediately after throwing them, he rapidly formed hand seals. In the blink of an eye, he had already completed two or three seals in succession.

Kagami didn’t dare let his guard down. He hurriedly formed seals of his own and shouted, "Ice Style: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"

In an instant, one frigid ice mirror after another appeared in front of Kagami, arranging themselves into several layers of icy barriers that shielded him within.

At the same time, the few shuriken the Third had thrown suddenly split apart in midair.

One became two.

Two became four.

There had clearly only been a handful at first, yet in the blink of an eye, they had multiplied into an entire barrage.

And that wasn’t all.

As the shuriken tore through the air, the whistling sound they produced grew increasingly fierce. It seemed as though they had been enhanced by some kind of nearly invisible Wind Release ninjutsu...